Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-05-14

with the polished desperate. "
these confirmed novel readerS!-
They are untitled for this life, which
is a tremendous discipline. The,
know not how to go through th'
furnaces of trial through which
they must pass and they are unfit
ted for world where everything
we gain we achieve by harl, long
continuing, and exhaustive work
Again: Abstain from all these
books which, while they have sons
good things about them, have also
an admixture OF evil. You have
read books that had two elements
in them-tlle good and the bad.-
Which stuck to you2 The bad
Tne heart of most people is like {
sieve, which let's the small parti-
cles gold fall through, but keeps
the great cinders. Once in awhile
there is MUD like loadStone
which plunged amid steel and brass
filings, gathers up the steel aud re
pels the bra IS. But it is generally
just the opposite. II you attempt
to plunge through hedge OF burs
to get oAe blackberry, you will get
more burs than blackberries. You
cannot afford to real d bad book
however good you are. You SHY:
.The influence is insignificant.
tell you that the scratch OLA pin
has sometimes produced the lock.
jaw. Alas, ii through curiosity, as
many do, you pry into an evil BOOK,
your curiosity is as dangerous as
that of the man who would take a
torch into gunpowder mill merely
to see whether it would blow up or
not. In II menagetie in New York
man put his arm through the
bars of black leoplrd's cage. The
animals hide looked so sleek, and
bright and beautiful. he juststrok-
ell it ouce. The brute seized him
and he drew forth hand torn, and
mangIed and bleeding. O, touch
not evil, even with the faintest
stroke! Though it may be glossy
and beautiful, touch it not, lest you
pull forth your soul torn andbIeel-
ing under the clutch OF the black
leopard. "But," you say, Chow
can find out whether book is
good or bad without reading it?''
There is always something suspi--
cious about a bad book. | never
knew an cxception-something sus
picious in the index or style OF il
lustration. This venomous reptile
almost always carries warning
rattle.
Again: L charge you to stand off
from all these books which corrupt
the Indignation aud infaine the
passions. [ do not reier now to
hh st 5pS a{e s9SR Hhf M 5
ing both ways to see that there is
no policeman around the block,
offers the book to your son on his
way home. lido not speak of that
kind of literature, but that which
evadeS the law and comes out in
polished style, and with acute plot
sounds the tocsin that rouses up all
the baSer passions of the soul. To
day, under the nostrils of this Lind
there is a fetid, reelling, unwashed
literature, enough to poison all the
fountains of public virtue, aud
smite your sons and daughters as
with the wing Of d destroying an.
gel, and iT is time that the minis
ters of the gospel blew the trumpet
and rallied the forces of righteous
ness, all armed to tile teeth, in this
great battle against a depraved lit
erature.
Again: Abstain from those books
which are apologize of crime. II
is IL sad thing thatsom Of the besl
and most beautiful bo0k-blndery
and some of the rhetoric, have beer
brought to make sin attractive.
Vice is a horrible thing anyhow
1t is born in shame, and it dies
bowling in the darkness. LIZ thi'
world it is scourged with whip o.
scorpions, but afterwards the thnn
ders of Gods wrath pursue it acros.
a boundless desert, beating it will
ruin and woe. When you come tt
paint carnalitY., do not paint it a;
looking from behind embroidered
curtains, or through lattice of roya
seraglo, but as writhiug In the az
onies of city hospital.
Cursed he the books that try tt
make impurity decent, and crime
attractive, and hypocrisy noble
Cursed be the books that swarm
with libertines and desperadoes
and make the brain of the young
people whirl with villiany! Ye au
thors who write them, ye publish
ers who print them, ye booksellers
who distribute them, shall be cut tC
pieces, il not by an aroused com
munity, then at last by the hail O
Divine vengeance, which shall
sweep to the lowest pit OF perditior
all We murderers Of souls. l tell you
thonoh Won nav ESCAPE. in this
world, you will be ground at las,
under the hoof of eternal calaml
ties, and you will be chained to the
rock, and you will have the vul
lures of despair clawing at YOU
soul, and those whom you have DE
stroyed will come around to tor
ment you, and to pour hotter Goals
Of fury upon your head, and rejoice
eternally in the outcry Of your pail
and the howl of YOUR damnatiOn.-